Locke and the Bourgeois State

Abstract

Locke's Second Treatise is presented as an attempt to provide a theorisation and justification of an essentially bourgeois state. His theory of property right is presented and certain presuppositions displayed. It is argued that the concept of class, which is absent from Locke's explicit text, nevertheless provides the key to its interpretation. Locke's failure to provide an adequate theory of political obligation is discussed in the light of this.